Henry Head

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Earl L. Matthews, Santa Ana Automotive Electrician Pioneer

One of the most exasperating things about doing this column is writing about these Klukkers but never finding any pictures of the pendejos. I can only think of one other instance in which I've featured a photo capturing the banality of evil that was the OC KKK--until today.I'm glad to report that we ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Elvin A. Ames and Osborne Garber, Fullerton and Santa Ana High School Teachers

Oh, how we love to hate our public school teachers in Orange County, those indoctrinators of our young with radical ideas of feeling good about yourself, about learning about Cesar Chavez and Harvey Milk. Why can't it be like the good old days, goes conservative Orange County thought, those days whe ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: George Bird and E.P. Rudy, Brea Constable and Marshal

Man, who WASN'T a Klan member in the early days of Brea, ESPECIALLY in its power structre? (Actually, there were a couple of souls--maybe eight?). You can see below the many Kluckers who helped lead Brea in its early days, who made sure it was such a gabacho town that it makes the Balboa Bay Club ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Harry Winchell, Brea's First City Marshal

​Man, who WASN'T a Klan member in the early days of Brea, ESPECIALLY in its power structre? (Actually, there were a couple of souls--maybe eight?). You can see below the many Kluckers who helped lead Brea in its early days, who made sure it was such a gabacho town that it makes the Balboa Bay Club ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Charles E. Smith, Brea Justice of the Peace

​Brea in the early 1920s was a no-man's land, a place virtually bereft of women and filled with wild-catters who were seeking fortune in the oil-laden hills. It was a place where socialists were killed (a story I'll save for another time) for their politics, at a time socialists were considered sp ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Earl B. Tozier, Founder of Fullerton High School's Band

​Next year, the Fullerton High School band will celebrate its 90th anniversary. Today, it's a fine, multiculti group of kids, including more than a few Mexis who want to become rich and famous blowing the tuba. Given I'm not an Indian (I'm an Anaheim Colonist, and the cosmos take sick pleasure in ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Dr. Charles V. Doty, Santa Ana Dentist

​Not all Klan members are born raging racists, and that was definitely the case with Dr. Charles V. Doty, a longtime SanTana dentist still remembered in the older parts of the city. Doty was one of the OC brave who fought in World War I, and would later on belong to a group of SanTana civic leader ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Orrin M. Thompson, Fullerton Councilmember

​My sincere apology, gentle readers, for being unfair: I didn't previously list all the Fullerton councilmembers who were Klan members, who participated in the burning of crosses on the lawns of political opponents and jailed them for kicks.Last guy missing from the list? One Orrin M. Thompson.He ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Earl G. Glenn, Santa Ana Postman/Record-Breaking Cyclist

​Time was when cycling was viewed as a heroic effort and not the efforts of Irvinites trying to burn off a few pounds on weekends, and Earl G. Glenn was the master of them all in OC. In 1897, he set a speed record that stood until at least the early 1920s: 12 1/2 miles in 30:31 on a dirt course--t ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Arnold F. Peek, Santa Ana Butcher

​When the Brave New Urbanists talk about the good old days of SanTana, the days before Mexicans destroyed the Golden City, they inevitably point to people like Arnold F. Peek. Like the Brave New Urbanists, he wasn't originally from the area, hailing instead from Kansas. Like the Brave New Urbanist ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: William A. Culp, Brea Schools Board of Trustees President

​Brea is infamous in the annals of Orange County for its unofficial sundown town law for much of its existence, and for just being generally nasty toward minorities, but here's an interesting fact: Brea never had segregated schools for Mexicans. Reason? There was no need for it--no Mexicans in tow ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Harry E. Inskeep, Fullerton Justice of the Peace

​Good news, all five readers of you: I've finally been able to move out all my Orange County history books from the catacombs into my new office, meaning I now have full access to all sorts of directories and local history books that I can match up with the OC Klan's membership roster from the 192 ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Arthur E. Koepsel, Chair of the OC Republican Party Central Committee

​I'm not going to write TOO much about Arthur Koepsel here because...well, you'll read more this Thursday in our paper. But, of course, whenever it comes to the pioneers of Orange County, first we must consult their self-published bios as included in Samuel Armor's collection. So, let's hear it, A ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Frederick Bastady, Buena Park Citrus Rancher/School Board Member

​Out in the Central Valley town of Lindsay, Bastady Ranches continues the family's century-long tradition of growing oranges. They've been there since 1955, since Emanuel Bastady moved the family business from Buena Park, a business he inherited from his uncle Frederick, a child of Swiss immigrant ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Charles C. Kinsler, Brea Fire Chief/Clerk/School Board Member/Pioneer

​Charles C. Kinsler was a lot of things as one of Brea's pioneers. He was a recording judge in the rough-and-tumble oil town, served on the first school board, and also did a stint as the town's clerk-recorder. He was a Mason and the city's first fire chief; he also organized one of the first unio ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Alvin L. Hitchcock, Orange County Chief Deputy Clerk

​In the early 1920s, the Orange County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution forbidding any county employees from being a member of the Ku Klux Klan. The supes had a serious problem on their hands, given that the sheriff at the time, Sam Jernigan, was a Klucker.The directive, of course, did lit ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: George W. Cullen, Brea Schools Clerk

​It's no surprise that many Klan members in Orange County were part of the educational system. From superintendents to school board members to trustees, those Kluckers wanted to do everything possible to ensure that White children weren't contaminated by their colored ilk--and that Mexis were educ ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Walter S. Gregg, County Statistician/Aid Commissioner

​As a county evolves, there are some positions that eventually become obsolete, renamed, or absorbed by another position. Take county statistician. That would be today here...um, for the whole county? Like, for everything? Doesn't exist anymore in OC. How about Aid Commissioner? God, what kind of ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Forrest Hurst and Ben Blanchard, Brea Councilmembers

​My apologies for missing the entry in this series last week, but I needed to do another post for that day--and why do two posts in one day unless it's timely? This Klan plan, on the other hand, is timeless--and besides, whenever I do miss a week, I come back with a two-fer, which leads us to the ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Evrit S. Boice, La Habra's First Mayor

​I was in La Habra over the weekend for...something...when I realized La Habra hasn't gotten enough love in this column. And why shouldn't it? La Habra, per capita, was probably the most Klan of all OC cities, a place where orange growers actually hired overseers to make sure their Mexicans didn't ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: William F. Espolt, Jr., La Habra Banker/Citrus Grower

​William F. Espolt, Jr. was quite the busy bee in his day. He was the chair of the La Habra Midway Oil Company, which sought out black gold up in them thar hills, and a stockholder in two banks. His father was one of the founders of the La Habra Citrus Assocation, and Billy also followed in daddy' ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: George Annin, Fullerton Police Officer, Councilmember

​Given that the Fullerton Police Department's murderous ways are getting mucho coverage this week due to the Kelly Thomas killing, let's turn our attention anew to the department's old days, when it featured many Kluckers among its ranks, Kluckers who were hell-bent on turning Fullerton into a ref ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Harry E. Becker, Mayor of Brea

​Here's a dirty little secret about the Ku Klux Klan in Orange County during the 1920s: for one part of the Invisible Empire's reach, it was all about class warfare.We're talking specifically about the city of Brea, which wasn't the genteel suburb we know today but rather a rough oil town whose re ... More >>

Profiles in OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Rollin Marsden and Roy Davis, Fullerton Councilmembers

​My apologies to my loyal white-supremacist audience for not doing one of these last week--I'm busy putting the final touches on...something, so had to skip a week. But fear not, skins: this week's a two-fer, and we return to Fullerton in honor of the civic malfeasance that plagues the city, espec ... More >>

Profiles in OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: William French, Fullerton's First Deputy Police Officer

​Hey, since the Fullerton Police Department is in the news because half-a-dozen of them beat to death a homeless man who suffered from schizophrenia, why not remind folks this week about the department's friendly past? Yes, Mitchie: Klan members were part of Fullerton's finest, and it started from ... More >>

Profiles in OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Rudolph Kroener, Co-Owner of Former Gas Station that's Now Orange's Filling Station

​The Filling Station in Orange is an okay-enough place once you get over their retro design, one facilitated by the fact that it used to be a auto service station (hence, it's name). Doesn't matter what I think--it's always slammed, especially since they now offer dinner.  But just in case yo ... More >>

Profiles in OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: William E. Fanning, Brea Schools Pioneer, Namesake of Fanning Elementary

​The legacy of school segregation in Orange County really needs no introduction 'round these parts. But what still needs to get examined is the political allegiances of the architects of such policies--beyond the mere racism that existed in Orange County before the 1950s, and toward the Coast to C ... More >>

Profiles in OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Jesse L. Hunter, San Juan Capistrano Innkeeper, Owner of Mexican Restaurant

​Even in 1920s Orange County, Know Nothings knew that if they wanted to be successful, they had to do business with Mexicans. You could segregate against them, kick their asses, exploit them--but you needed their money, too, to make sure you could make a living.That's exactly what happened with Je ... More >>

Profiles in OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: John A. Leuzinger, Brea Mayor, Founder of Brea Electric

​It is absolutely amazing, if not downright frightening, to see the effects Google has on modern-day reporting. Last year, the Orange County Register ran a story on Brea Electric, one of the oldest businesses in the city. Reporter Lou Ponsi lifted the history of the company wholesale from its webs ... More >>

Profiles in OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Newton E. Wray, Santa Ana Rancher, Failed Council Candidate

​Most of what passes for the early, non-Mission or -Anaheim history of Orange County has come out of Samuel Armour's 1921 History of Orange County, California: with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the ... More >>

Profiles in OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Elmer E. Heidt, OC's First Scout Executive for Orange County Boy Scouts Council

​Today, the Boy Scouts is one of the most multicultural organizations in Orange County--indeed, if you asked me to describe the prototypical OC Boy Scout, I'd say he was a Vietnamese kid from Little Saigon. But the Boy Scouts wasn't always so egalitarian--although the national organization maintai ... More >>

Profiles In OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: James W. Newell, Fullerton-Area Miner/Mason

​That old-time racism that once marked Fullerton is rearing its ugly head right now over at the Friends for Fullerton's Future blog, in the comments section in a simple post about the future of the Chicano murals near the Lemon Street overpass. Of course! As we've noted before on this blog, Fuller ... More >>

Profiles in OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Garland C. Ross, Santa Ana Dentist, Batted Against Walter Johnson

​There is a name on the membership roster of the Orange County chapter of the Ku Klux Klan compiled by the District Attorney's office in the 1920s that matches that of a major league ballplayer. It ain't Arky Vaughn, or even on the same level of major league importance as the Hall of Famer from Fu ... More >>

Profiles in OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Clyde Fairbairn, Longtime Olive Resident/Nice Guy

​The secrets people keep. A couple of years ago, a couple of amateur historians wrote up reminisces of Clyde Fairbairn, for whom Fairbairn Street in Orange is named. Fairbairn was a longtime resident of Olive, a community now mostly gone, gobbled up by Orange in the past half-century, but once cen ... More >>

Profiles in OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Charles McClure, Brea's First Police Chief

​Anaheim's Klan was more obsessed with temperance than minorities; Fullerton's Klukkers were mostly obsessed with booting out Mexicans from the city limits. But for a bit of the old Klan, the guys who hated blacks and wanted nothing to do with them, you'd have to travel up to Brea, the county's on ... More >>

Profiles in OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: John F. Pieper, Tustin Feed Store Owner, Councilmember

​It's always a blast to read the polite histories of Orange County and compare them to the true story. Take, for instance, their treatment of Tustin pioneer and former councilmember John F. Pieper, for whom the city's Pieper Lane (in the ritzy Tustin Ranch area) is named.He ran Pieper's Feed Store ... More >>

Profiles in OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Henry W. Head, OC Founding Father

​If it weren't for Google, this series wouldn't exist. And if it weren't for bad historians, there'd be no reason for my write-ups. But there is, and there are--thus, ars gratia artis, or some high-falutin' Latin phrase to justify its existence. Actually, blame the biographers of Henry W. Head for ... More >>

Announcing the 'Which OC Pioneers Were KKK Members?' Series!

​Last week, Luis F. Fernandez--the historian who rediscovered the long-forgotten desegregation story of Alex Bernal--went to the Anaheim Heritage Room and got a copy of a list that had long eluded him: the membership roll of the Orange County chapter of the Ku Klux Klan during the 1920s, when the ... More >>

Five Reasons Why Orange County Should Thank Mexico Today

​Today, as Orange County Register readers know too well, is the official marking of Mexico's bicentennial. SanTana will become one massive fiesta this weekend, although the elites marked their own celebration last evening at the Bowers Museum. With all the arribas in the air, what better time to d ... More >>

SJC Americans: OC's Latest Hate Group!

Another set of OCers makes Henry W. Head proud...​I don't really pay much attention to San Juan Capistrano because that's more Spencer's terrain, but one facet of the town that previously drew my  interest was some group calling themselves the SJC Americans. Clockwork Coker previously wrote a ... More >>

Killer Quince

Happy Quinceañera to us! A look back at 15 years of telling the other side (that is, the real side) of OC's story

Most Racist City in Orange County--Is it Fullerton??? Our Top Five

Henry W. Head, founding father of OC, longtime Santa Ana doctor...​I was speaking with a local GOP operative recently when he said something that shocked me. The topic was my recent cover story on the Candy-Ass Gang, the trio of pendejos and one pendeja who prosecutors say drove into Huntington Be ... More >>

Time for Boston To Give Us Their Crown as the Kings of Bigotry

OC founding father Henry W. Head: Could take on a Bostonian any day​Let the baseball pundits obsess over whether your Angels will finally beat the Boston Red Sox in the playoffs next week--I care about stripping from Beantown what's now rightfully ours: the title of most-racist 'burb in America.†... More >>

How Did the Doll Hut End Up Hosting a White-Power Show?

Henry W. Head: Godfather of OC, OC racists. Has nothing to do with post other than we love posting his photo to screw with our Sunkist memories...​The Doll Hut in Anaheim, of course, needs no introduction (but if you need one, read this and this) and is one of the last music venues in Orange Count ... More >>

In Defense of Klanaheim

The Los Angeles Times story published this Monday telling the world Anaheim is now majority-Latino has drawn nothing but derision from the Latino Anaheimers I know (read this musical takedown by Weekly contributor and KPFK-FM 90.7 Subversive Historian Gabriel San Roman). "Oh no, they didn't put in a ... More >>

Where Santa Ana's Segregationists Can Eat Mexican Food in Peace

Cute, little, quaint Floral Park in SanTana--the place that holds segregated Halloweens and where a mansion gate states "Tara"--has its own Mexican restaurant: El Pico de Gallo Grill. It's located right at the entrance of the neighborhood--or rather, where the northbound entrance would be except tha ... More >>

[Scariest People 2008] Haunted Alamo

First OC Book Signing for Orange County: A Personal History Mucho Success

With apologies to Orange County Register sports genius Randy Youngman, notes, quotes and observations from my Sept. 18 book signing at the Yost Theater for my new book, Orange County: A Personal History: *About 500 people showed up to hear my lecture! About 500! I add the qualifier because the Yost ... More >>

On Thin-Skinned SanTana Historians

Moxley fends off idiot Republicans; Nick Schou battles conspiracy loons; Vickie Chang gets the hipsters riled up. My petty, non-pedo-apologist fights? Local amateur historians. My post last week about SanTana's missing segregationist history in a recent Images of America book about the county seat ... More >>

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